I wonder if us bringing in a Spanish speaking coach now has something to do with not only perhaps bringing some of our Spanish speaking loanees back, but also to do with how much easier it will be to bring in players from South America from January? On that note, I've had a look for goal-scorers in South America who now qualify for work permits and might not be too expensive or out of reach. There's again a distinct lack of potential CFs/#9s, but a few possibilities for second strikers or attacking midfielders: First find is Jaminton Campaz - 20 year-old attacking midfielder from Deportes Tolima in Colombia. Should qualify as he played 100% of their Copa Libertadores games. Left-footed and seems capable of playing across all attacking midfield positions, playing style wise could be our Emi Buendia? 5 goals in 15 League appearances, 2 goals in 4 Libertadores appearances. Takes a decent set-piece as well. Second, 23 year-old Ecuadorian Adolfo Munoz at LDU Quito - the same club Udinese bought Estupinan from for €500k. Seems a left-sided forward or second-striker, kind of a Bobby P/Sergio Aguero hybrid in his playing style, recently earned his first cap for Ecuador, starting as they spanked Colombia 6-1 in the WC Qualifiers. Got 2 goals in 4 appearances in the Copa Libertadores. One issue is he's currently recovering from a muscle tear that has kept him out for a few weeks. Recently linked with Queretaro in Liga MX, should be available. Also from LDU Quito, 22 year-old Jhojan Julio, seems to play more central, as a 10 or second-striker. Has a Success-like build, except perhaps stays on his feet more? Scored 3 goals in 6 Libertadores appearances, including 1 vs Santos and 2 vs Sao Paulo. Has 4 caps for Ecuador. Perhaps would be a tad too expensive, but a very good prospect seems Tomas Belmonte, 22 year-old Argentinian central midfielder at Lanus. Seems similar style-wise to someone like KDB, except with a good timing of run and leap on him which seems to lead to a decent number of headed goals..
Wilson showed good pace in getting the only goal as Salford beat Harrogate at the weekend - tidy finish as well. I still reckon he'd be a better option off the bench than Gray at least.
Muñoz was brought in as he's dirt cheap and available. None of our loanees will be coming back and we won't be buying anyone. Merry Christmas!
Zubeldia a manager I recommend for Watford has a great track record of developing young players. Belmonte has been promoted by him and given the role of charging the midfield. He is nifty and clever and keeps things ticking over and is prepared to put challenges in, work hard and attack the box. He still needs to work on his strength and ability to play stretch passes but at the top of midfield he would do a job. Luke Jephcott Welsh youth international. Under contract with Argyle but an excellent header of the ball. No express pace but knows how to find space in the box, hold off defenders, bring others into play and is a very accurate shooter.
I've watched his goals from this season as I noticed he was one of League One's top scorers, but I don't think he looks good enough tbh so I didn't include him in any of my suggestions.
One possible option for a striker on loan in January is Marco Tuminello, 22 year-old from Atalanta. He'd scored 4 goals in 5 appearances on loan for Serie B Pescara at the start of the season (2 in the league, 2 in the cup) before doing his cruciate and his loan being cancelled. He is now recovered and ready to go on loan again somewhere (they might send him somewhere else than Pescara again). Only issue is he might need to be plonked on the bench as an unused sub in one of Atalanta's next league game to qualify for a work permit as I can't see if he was included in their squad at all last year. Difficult to know for sure how good he'd be, but he seems to have a decent pedigree for a youngish player, Atalanta signed him for 5mil from Roma after he scored 3 goals in 9 games on loan for Crotone in Serie A as a 19 year-old. He seems sharp from the only highlights video I could find (though a year old): https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/ser...mminello-possibile-prestito-a-gennaio-1473754 There's also a 21 year-old striker at Villareal called Alex Millan who would qualify for a loan move and should be available as he has played 3 minutes as a sub for them this season, but I can't find any highlights of him to see if he's any cop. He has been scoring regularly for their B Team this year though. https://www.transfermarkt.com/alex-millan/profil/spieler/412041
I would prefer someone who has definitely scored goals in the Championship (and is not Andre Gray before anyone suggests him!).
Yeah, ummm, like who?!?! Dwight Gayle is really the only name that has been mentioned previously on here who could fit the bill in that respect. I've not spotted any others yet.
Another striker loan possibility, Georginio Rutter, 18 year-old at Rennes. Has 47 minutes for them as a sub this season and scored a penalty at the end of their CL match vs Sevilla (they were already losing 3-0). Is a France youth international and seems impressive from the brief highlights I could find. Rennes have been knocked out of all European competitions now for this season so he could be better served by going on loan to get minutes. Plus our relationship with Rennes is probably decent after they fleeced us for Sarr.
Another more as a very budget rotation option, Mikael Mandron, 26 year-old at Crewe. Scored 6 goals this season and is Crewe's highest rated player on whoscored - just ahead of forum favourite Harry Pickering! Crewe only signed him on a 12 month contract last summer, which they'll be kicking themselves with if someone else swoops. Has a similar build to Perica, but seems a tad more mobile perhaps. Scores a decent goal here (the first one):
Some plausible suggestions for a Capoue replacement. Ideally we’d want a ball winner who has quality on the ball too. Not being too imaginative or ambitious here - restricting it largely to EFL players who would be available for £3m or less and are a good age. Ben Pearson (Preston): has been a very reliable performer at this level for a few years and out of contract this summer. Very good ball winner. Gustavo Hamer (Coventry): signed for just over a £1m this summer. Prodigious ball winner but also very creative, scoring and assisting goals. 1.9 key passes per match per whoscored, more than any other centre mid in the league. Ben Whiteman (Doncaster) considered by some EFL pundits to be the best player in League 1. Goals, assists, lots of key passes and a prodigious ball winner too. Dominates possession too with more passes per 90 than any other player that isn’t an MK Dons CB. Obviously it’s a risk - hard to tell if his ceiling is good championship player or as a PL player. If we go down the Udinese route, which i would imagine is pretty likely, Wallace or (maybe this is fanciful) Mandragora could be decent too. Both out of favour but have good top flight experience. Mandragora was signed with much fanfare in a deal that was structured in a complicated way with Juventus but hasn’t really kicked on as much as many had hoped.
Out of the first three, I've been most impressed by Hamer from what I've seen. I'm not convinced the other two would be enough of an upgrade. I'm also not convinced Hamer would be enough of an upgrade to warrant spending the entirety of the Capoue money on which would be required to get him - I'd rather the money be put towards a striker instead. Barlaser at Rotherham is another who has promise, but again I'm not convinced yet either that they'd be worth it. The Udinese route does seem the most plausible for this position. Probably the only player in the football league who could be possible in January and who I'm sure would be an upgrade is Krystian Bielik at Derby. He's only 22 and their upturn in form has been as much to do with his return from injury as from Rooney's appointment as manager. Since he's been back his stats have also put him in the top 10 Championship players on whoscored, and he was perhaps the best DM in the Champ last season as well. He would probably cost more than we could afford though and I would be surprised if there aren't PL clubs hovering.
Bielik is good. Got some rave reviews on his performances since returning from a long long injury lay-off. But Derby brought him in for £8m so even if their takeover doesn’t go through, can’t see them selling for anything less than £10-15m. Contract until 2024 too. Matt Grimes (much discussed on this forum) is another top player at this level who might be available in that price range, but of course we won’t be paying that for anyone this window unless Sarr is sold for £40m+.
Their private equity owners usually sell when the price is right. But no chance were hitting that price so it’s fairly moot.
Put this in another thread but worth repeating for those convincing themselves that we'll be buying players this January. In the three seasons in the Championship before under the Pozzos, we didn't pay a fee for a single permanent signing that came in from outside the Pozzo group. Add to that that we're clearly being hamstrung by Deeney and Gray's (possibly some others' too) wages and it's highly unlikely we'll be buying anyone this window. We're fishing in the loan, free and Udinese pool now chaps.
I and others who posted some suggestions on this thread have recognised that the Udinese route is most likely for a Chalobah replacement, particularly since they have a number of capable spare options for that role. Still interesting to discuss some relatively inexpensive EFL options in that position. It is worth noting as well, though, that our stature and financial status (the latter worse in some ways, better in others) is very different from what it was 2012-15. It is helpful to consider that record but the club is in a totally different position and market context than it was then. Leventhal also just suggested on the Athletic’s transfer tracker than if Watford and Villarreal do reach an agreement to sell Capoue, it would be in the region of £4.5m and that we’d “seek to reinvest the money in another defensive midfield option.”
There was an article in The Mail today about some PL players who are desperate to get away because they are not getting a look in at their clubs, and other players who are looking for a new start to try and get their careers back on track. I don't think any of them would be realistic as permanent signings, but we might be able to get one or more of them on loan, because getting a regular start at a top Championship club might give them a higher profile than playing for struggling PL side. Here they are: - Sergio Romero (33) GK Man U; Jonjoe Kenny (23) Def Everton; James Tompkins CB Palace; Marcos Rojo Def Man U; Danny Rose LB Spurs; Danny Drinkwater MF Chelsea; James McCarthy MF Palace; Dele Ali MF Spurs; Odion Igalo Striker Shanghai GS; Daniel Sturridge (31) Striker Free agent; Divock Origi Striker Liverpool; There is also: - Paulo Gazzaniga Spurs; Marco Alonso Chelsea; Mesut Ozil Arsenal; Christian Eriksen Inter and they even mention our own Troy Deeney as well. I appreciate there is very little if not any chance of us getting quite a few of those players, but there are some that we might just have a chance of getting on loan.
McCarthy might be realistic but I don't really know if he's much cop. We need a "good in the Championship, not quite good enough for the Premier League" player - * la Guedioura. Other types of players might be ones at ex Premier League clubs that were relegated a few years ago and have parachute payments running out so they'll let them leave for free to get wages off the books, like Ben Watson.
I've not seen too much of him, but Duncan Watmore has scored 4 goals with 1 assist in just 5 starts since recovering from injury and starting playing for Middlesbrough in the last 6 weeks, with 2 goals vs Swansea and 2 vs Millwall (vids below). They initially only signed him on a 6 month deal in the summer, meaning he's already a free agent in January. He can play as a Striker, LW or RW, and Boro fans consider him a more clinical finisher than their other two forwards in Akpom and Assombalonga and are worried they might not be able to afford to get him on another contract. He seems a strong runner with a solid shot. He's 26 already, but he could be a very useful squad option who can score goals in the Champ and could be signed for free potentially on a short-term deal (which he hopefully survives before injuring himself again, he's supposedly a Welbeck-level crock). https://www.oneboro.co.uk/forum/topic/11533-the-january-transfer-window-2021/page/9/?tab=comments#
My guess is no. The Capoue transfer is under discussion between Watford and Villarreal whereas Alex Milan is a suggestion from a bloke on an internet forum.
Duh! Villareal is the team Capoue is supposed to be joining, so I was was suggesting that MAYBE Alex Milan could be made part of the deal if we were interested in him.
There is nothing to suggest we are interested in him. Watford forum transfer suggestions thread has no correlation to who the club is interested in signing.
Wondering if someone like Barry Bannan might be the kind of target we'd go for. Proven Championship performer, set piece taker, great passer of the ball, club captain. Only six months left on his contract at Sheffield Wednesday who are struggling to pay wages at the moment (reports that they paid all the players only £7k each last month). He's 31, nowhere near good enough for the Premier League but could be a low cost option a la Ben Watson. Two goals and three assists from 21 games this season in the league.
WTF are you talking about I have not even suggested that the club are interested in Alex Milan? However WFC are supposedly in talks with Villarreal about selling Capoue to them, so I am merely speculating, that IF the club were interested in signing Milan, he could be used as a make weight in the possible Capoue deal.
The Athletic have posted an update on transfer activity this morning. Most of it just speculation though. Sarr is expected to stay but the club expect other clubs will test the water with offers. Watford may look for alternative solutions to the flanks even if Sarr does stay, as both Pussetto and Deulofeu are unlikely to ever play for the club again. With Capoue on the verge of moving, which was of no surprise to the dressing room, Watford will be looking for a similar profile player for midfield. It is expected that minor alterations rather than a major redesign will take place. The club are trying to extend Wilmot’s contract which has 18 months, plus an optional year, to run. It’s likely the left back situation will be given consideration even though Masina has returned. Another mention on Ivan Toney. Watford were looking at him in the summer and he was interested in coming, and he shares the same agent as Deeney. For whatever reason Watford decided against the move, which IMO, has turned out to have been another big error of judgement. Djibril Toure is officially signing on 1st Jan but is expected to immediately go out on loan.
